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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23578765">Family Ties</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drizzt_Do_Urden/pseuds/Drizzt_Do_Urden'>Drizzt_Do_Urden</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asperger Syndrome, Canon Compliant, Family Bonding, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Or at least as Canon Compliant as possible, Original Character(s), Wedding Planning, Werewolves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:53:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23578765</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drizzt_Do_Urden/pseuds/Drizzt_Do_Urden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Valdez bonds with a cousin of his, who turns out to be a demigod too.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Calypso &amp; Leo Valdez, Leo Valdez &amp; Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Trouble in Greenhope Bay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is an #ownvoices work in regards to the autism bits. It is NOT #ownvoices in regards to Latino experience. Any bits on Latino experience are the result of Internet research.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is a re-do of this particular fic idea.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            <em>Leo Valdez</em> was in the doorway. Leo...<em>fucking</em> Valdez. Juvenile delinquent extraordinaire, lying sack of shit, black sheep of the family, <em>Leo Valdez</em> was standing in the doorway of Alexander's house.</p><p>           And a <em>week</em> before the wedding, too. As if Alexander's mother really needed <em>this</em> on top of all the other stress she'd been dealing with. </p><p>            "Get...<em>out</em>," Alexander hissed. "Now."</p><p>            "Look, cuz," Leo began, looking, much to Alexander's surprise, apologetic. "I know what I did wasn't-" </p><p>            "I said <em>get out</em>," Alexander demanded. "My mother is getting married next Sunday, and the last thing either she, I, or my stepfather-to-be need is you stirring up-." </p><p>            Just then, Alexander heard Aunt Rosa gasp behind him. He turned, and saw that she</p><p>           "You!" she cried, pointing at Leo. "You little <em>diablo</em>! What are <em>you</em> doing here?" </p><p>           Wherever it had come from, Leo's mysterious contrition and guilt instantly disappeared, and was replaced with narrowed eyes and a scowl. </p><p>           "Why, <em>hello</em>, Tia Rosa," Leo spat. "Did you run out of money or something? Because Maine is a long, <em>long</em> way from Houston." </p><p>            <em>Him</em>?! Accusing <em>Aunt Rosa</em> of being a leech? Oh, the <em>irony</em>! </p><p>            "She's here for the <em>wedding</em>," Alexander snapped. "Which, unlike you, she was actually <em>invited</em> to." </p><p>             Leo's eyes widened. </p><p>             "A...<em>wedding</em>? Tia Eva's getting married?" </p><p>             "Yes, and she doesn't need <em>you</em> around to screw things up," Aunt Rosa said snidely. </p><p>              Before Leo could reply to that, who should walk over but the groom himself, Alexander's soon-to-be stepfather, Adam Scott? </p><p>             "Who's this?" he asked. "Another relative? I thought we were all full up!" </p><p>             "This is Leo," Alexander explained, gritting his teeth and gesturing to Leo. "Leo Valdez." </p><p>             Adam Scott's eyes lit up. </p><p>           "<em>Crazy cousin Leo</em>?" he exclaimed. "The one I've heard so much about? Well, come on in!" </p><p>           No. No!  Leo <em>could</em> not come inside. Because otherwise...otherwise Mother would discover him-all the Valdezes would discover Leo, </p><p>           "As a...matter of fact," Alexander declared. "It is... time for <em>Mass</em>. Yes, it is time for Mass, and I am taking Leo with me."</p><p>           "Mass?" Adam asked, utterly confused. "But...it's Saturday." </p><p>           "There are Saturday masses as well," Alexander explained hastily, linking his arm into Leo's and steering him away from the door.  "Don't worry, Adam. I will be back shortly." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>           Even accounting for how <em>very</em> religious Tia Eva and Alexander were, it was clear to Leo that the impromptu trip to church was a means of steering him away from the rest of the family. Which, in all honesty, was just as well. Leo had no desire to be around Aunt Rosa, and there was no way he was going to find time to apologize to Tia Eva anyway if she really <em>was</em> getting married in a week.</p><p>         The mere fact of which was <em>quite</em> a shock. Leo, like the rest of the Valdez family, did not often visit or contact Tia Eva and Alexander-in fact, he'd only ever visited them <em>once</em>, two years ago-and even then, that was only because he'd <em>just</em> run away from a foster home. But that visit had lasted almost a month and a half, during which he'd learned a few key facts about the Vasquezes. </p><p>        One, Tia Eva was a widow. Her husband-a one Mr. Enrique Vasquez-had died in a car accident shortly after Alexander was born. Two, Tia Eva had not so much as <em>considered</em> dating other men in the years since her husband's death. And since Leo and Alexander were <em>both</em> sixteen...that meant Tia Eva had not dated for a <em>very</em> long time indeed. </p><p>       Thirdly, and finally, Mr. Vasquez had, upon his death, left Tia Eva a <em>lot</em> of money. Not enough for Tia Eva to be Bill Gates-level rich, or even close-but he'd left her just enough that, even after buying a small house in Maine and finishing up her college degree, she could still retire a lot <em>earlier</em> than normal if she chose. She wasn't planning to, of course-she'd claimed she wanted to save for Alexander's college tuition-but she probably <em>could</em>. </p><p>        Or maybe it was simply guilt that prevented it-guilt at having money while the rest of the Valdez family struggled to get by. Whatever the reason, Tia Eva had both a steady day job <em>and</em> a sizeable nest egg. Both of which were <em>very</em> attractive to the wrong sort of people.</p><p>        Granted, Leo hadn't seen the Vasquezes in two years, but Leo was not naive enough to pretend that money <em>wasn't</em> a factor in why people got married.  For all Leo knew, Tia Eva's husband-to-be could very well be an out-and-out gold digger. Or...he could be harmless. Leo had no clue. </p><p>        "So tell me," Leo asked Alexander as they sat down together in one of the pews, "What's the groom-to-be <em>like</em>, exactly?" </p><p>        "Why do you want to know?" Alexander asked gruffly.</p><p>       "Well, he's going to be my uncle, for starters," Leo pointed out. "Also, I haven't met him yet, so I-"</p><p>       "You did meet him," Alexander told him stiffly. "He's the guy who called you 'crazy cousin Leo' and invited you in."</p><p>       Leo's eyebrows shot up in surprise.</p><p>      "You mean the white guy who greeted me at the door? That guy?"</p><p>      "Yes, that's him," Alexander replied. "His name's Adam Scott. And he's nice. Very nice." </p><p>      So...he did know a bit about this potential husband-to-be. Not much, but a little more than he'd thought. From Alexander's description, and the way he'd invited Leo into the house, it was clear he was keen on ingratiating himself to the Valdez family at large. Whether that was a good or bad sign, Leo didn't know. </p><p>      "Do they...do you <em>call</em> me that? Crazy Cousin Leo?" </p><p>       Alexander snorted. </p><p>       "No," he told Leo. "We most certainly do <em>not</em>. Now, thieving bastard, that we do call you. On occasion. Black sheep of the family, definitely. And if it wouldn't be an insult to poor Aunt Esperanza's memory, we'd call you a son of a bitch." </p><p>       Leo chuckled. He couldn't help it; Alexander had always been painfully and hilariously blunt about things. Tia Eva had explained that this thorough lack of tact was not intentional, but due to Alexander having Asperger's Syndrome. Social skills, she'd explained, were something autistic people in general lacked. And apparently, deceit and tactful explanation counted as social skills. Who knew? </p><p>      The mass eventually ended, at which point Alexander got up, turned to Leo, and said pointedly:</p><p>      "I am going to confession now. Don't make trouble while I'm gone." </p><p>      Leo shrugged and agreed as Alexander walked away from him towards the confession booth. No sooner had Alexander disappeared into the confession booth, however, when Leo felt an unexpected tap on his shoulder from behind. </p><p>       Leo turned behind him, and saw that the person was a boy about his age, with blond, curly hair hidden under a baseball cap, and blue eyes. </p><p>      "We need to talk," the boy said. "Privately. Follow me. " </p><p>      They both then stood up, and Leo, curious, followed the boy into the parking lot, which was packed with churchgoers getting into their cars. </p><p>     The boy then turned to Leo and said, </p><p>      "You need to stay away from the Vasquezes' house." </p><p>       Leo chuckled. </p><p>       "Well. Seems Cousin Alexander's not the <em>only</em> one who doesn't want me here," he replied with a smile. " Are you a relative of the groom or something?" </p><p>       The boy scowled, and then took off his baseball cap, revealing a small pair of satyr horns. </p><p>       "Look, I don't know who you are, or what Alexander's beef with you is," the surprisingly religious satyr grumbled, "But I <em>do</em> know that you're a demigod. The smell of it is very distinct. So, I'll tell you again-for your own good: stay away from the Vasquez's house!" </p><p>       "Wait...what were <em>you</em> doing in a <em>church</em>?" Leo gasped. "I didn't think that-" </p><p>       "I was keeping an eye on my charge, of course," the satyr snapped. "What else would I be doing?" </p><p>      "There's...there's <em>another</em> demigod here?" Leo asked breathlessly. "Which godly parent is it? Do you know?" </p><p>       The satyr shook his head. </p><p>       "No, but I <em>do</em> know that there is a lycanthrope set to marry Ms. Vasquez next Sunday," the satyr said. "And that the main purpose behind the nuptials is so that he and his buddies can eat my charge."</p><p>      <em>Eat his-holy shit!</em></p><p><em>      "</em>I'm...I guess I'm not the only demigod in the family, then," Leo murmured. "The only question is...who is it?" </p><p>       "Alexander Vasquez," the satyr sighed. "My charge is none other than your cousin, Alexander Vasquez." </p><p>        Leo's jaw dropped.</p><p><em>      No, no, it can't be, </em>he thought. But then it all clicked into place. </p><p>       The fact that there was no gravestone of Mr. Vasquez, only an urn <em>supposedly</em> filled with his ashes on the mantelpiece.  How, according to Leo's mom, no one in the family had been invited to the funeral, <em>or</em> the wake. Tia Eva obviously couldn't hold a funeral for a god-let <em>alone</em> visit his grave every November 2nd. The fact that nobody had been invited to the wedding, either-and that there were no pictures of it. Because the wedding had never <em>actually taken place</em>. The sudden fortune Tia Eva had "inherited"-that too could easily have been handed to her by a god-possibly as a parting gift. </p><p>      And then there was the convenient timing of Mr. Vasquez's "death". Namely, in that it occurred shortly after Alexander's birth-<em>right</em> when a lot of gods left their mortal lovers behind. </p><p>       Dammit. Alexander <em>was</em> a demigod. And Leo had been right to wonder about Adam Scott. Because eating someone's son was one <em>hell</em> of an ulterior motive for marriage. </p><p>      "Well, now you understand that I can't stay away," Leo told the satyr. "I'm not about to let my cousin get eaten, no matter what old grudge he holds against me." </p><p>       The satyr sighed. </p><p>       "Well, if you're going to be like that, we might as well work together," he conceded. "My name's Charlie. Yours?" </p><p>       "Leo," Leo replied. "Leo Valdez." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>       <strong> "</strong>Mrs. Vasquez!" Nurse Baker exclaimed as Eva walked towards the picnic table. "I thought you weren't going to come."</p><p>        "Honestly, I shouldn't have bothered to," Eva scoffed.  </p><p>        Nurse Baker rolled her eyes. </p><p>        "Why?" she replied. "Too proud to pay me off? Or are you just too stingy to do so? Heaven knows it's not because you don't have the money." </p><p>        It was true. Eva had plenty enough to pay off annoying busybodies with. Alexander's father had seen to <em>that</em>. The one good thing he'd ever done for Alexander. Of course, you could, if you were feeling generous, count the protective spell he'd cast over Greenhope Bay, but Eva usually <em>didn't</em>.</p><p>         One because it essentially trapped Eva and Alexander in a small-town in Maine, unless, of course, Eva was willing to risk Alexander getting devoured by monsters. Two, because he'd had his own selfish motives for putting the spell up in the first place.  </p><p>         "Because the demands in your email are <em>amateur</em>," Eva told the nurse as she handed her the check for five hundred dollars.</p><p>         The nurse glared at Eva. </p><p>        "Excuse me?" she cried, immediately stuffing the check into her purse. </p><p>         "Getting weekly checks in the mail from a woman you've never met," Eva explained. "Do you not realize how that would <em>look</em> to people?  How much <em>attention</em> it would attract? Hopefully you live alone, or else any roommate catching a glimpse at your mail wouldn't take all that long to put two and two together." </p><p>          Eva rolled her eyes. </p><p>         "If you're going to extort me, at least do it <em>right</em>." </p><p>          "Well, how would you <em>prefer</em> me to blackmail you, then?" Nurse Baker huffed. </p><p>          "For starters, no more of these meetings in the park," Eva began. "And no mail either. The Internet exists; you should use it. Physical proof is your enemy." </p><p>          "So...it should all be digital, then?" Nurse Baker replied, an evil glint forming in her eye. "I can work with that."</p><p>          "At minimum," Eva told her. "A <em>smart</em> blackmailer would also add a buffer account between them and their victim. One in the name of someone else entirely. Someone who is supposedly a rich relative of theirs, which justifies the money sent to their account from the buffer account. A buffer account which is supplied, of course, by the money taken from the blackmail victim." </p><p>           Nurse Baker's eyes widened. </p><p>           "That...that is good," she admitted. "I...I wish I'd thought of that." </p><p>           "Yes," Eva scoffed as she walked out of the park. "You do." </p><p>           <em>You're lucky I didn't call the police on you,</em> Eva thought as she began the trek back to her house. <em>That Alexander's birth certificate not listing his father's name is evidence of a secret big enough not to.</em></p><hr/>
<hr/><p>           It was bad enough that a lycanthrope was about to eat his charge. But <em>two</em> demigods to look after? This was going to be a nightmare.</p><p>           Oh, well. If Leo was <em>half</em> the person Charlie had heard him made out to be, they might have <em>some</em> hope of living past next Sunday. Given his past exploits, Leo could <em>probably</em> be relied on to take out a lycanthrope or two. But Alexander? <em>Please</em>! Strong as the kid's scent was, he had no combat ability that Charlie knew of. And as for his powers? They were still a mystery. </p><p>           Granted, that was <em>partly</em> due to the protective barrier over Greenhope Bay, the one which, in addition to keeping most monsters from attacking Alexander, also suppressed his powers. Alexander could be anything. But most likely, he <em>had</em> to be strong, because Charlie had never encountered a situation like this before. Nor he had ever heard of demigods being trapped via magic barriers, either. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>          Unfortunately, Leo turned out to have <em>no</em> intention of leaving. A fact which he had made crystal clear the minute Alexander had stepped out of confession. </p><p>            "I'm staying for Tia Eva's wedding," Leo had declared. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."</p><p>             Worse still, rather than evict him from the premises, as she should, Alexander's mother in fact actually gave Leo her <em>permission</em> to stay! Despite both Alexander's <em>and</em> Aunt Rosa's objections, nonetheless. </p><p>             "I know what you think of him, Rosa," his mother had said, sighing as she did. "And I know what he did to us, Alexander. But I can't just toss him onto the street." </p><p>             <em>Fine</em>, Alexander had thought as he walked to Adam Scott's room. <em>But don't be too surprised when something happens. </em></p><p>             Most everyone-their neighbors, their fellow churchgoers, and especially the Special Ed people at school-were weirded out by how well Alexander got on with his soon-to-be stepfather. After all, Alexander was the only son of a single mother-and autistic, too.  Therefore, shouldn't he be cringe-inducingly possessive of his mother? Shouldn't he loathe Adam Scott with all his being?</p><p>            The fact that Alexander didn't do either of those things baffled them. That he "allowed" his mother to find love again without accusing her of disloyalty to his father, or attempting to interfere with her new relationship, boggled their minds. Alexander, for his part, could not help but feel insulted by their confusion. </p><p>           Because for starters, his mother was not some simpering idiot in need of his "care"; she was a grown woman who could be trusted to make her own decisions. Indeed, the idea of a woman in her early forties who had been married before needing to seek a sixteen-year-old boy's approval to date was just <em>laughable</em>. Secondly, you could <em>hardly</em> accuse a woman of being unfaithful when she had not touched a man in sixteen years. Finally, Alexander had much more practical reasons to get along with his stepfather-to-be. Because two years ago, Alexander had discovered something which had fundamentally changed everything he knew about the known universe. </p><p>           It had been shortly after Leo had become a ward of the state again. Alexander had been riding his bike around town, absent-minded of the direction he was taking. So much so that he almost ended up crossing town lines. Almost. For just as he was about to unintentionally do so, a mysterious barrier of some sort blocked him, preventing him from crossing town lines. Curious, Alexander got off the bike and tried again, pushing against the force as he attempted to step over the town line. The force, in response, pushed back, knocking  him back onto the ground on the Greenhope Bay side. </p><p>          The barrier, Alexander would later discover, did not just extend to that particular section of Greenhope Bay, but all around the town. No matter how Alexander attempted to leave the town-via water, the road, or the woods-the barrier revealed itself and pushed him back into town. But why? </p><p>          Alexander's first theory was that <em>everyone</em> was banned from leaving, like on that cheesy <em>Once Upon a Time</em> show. This theory quickly evaporated the minute he caught Mrs. Macmillan driving out across town lines to go on vacation, with not a single bit of interference from the mystery barrier. And three other cars doing the exact same thing after her, with the barrier not bothering to stop any of them. So the barrier existed seemingly only to keep <em>him</em> in. <em>Why</em>? And who had put it up in the first place?  </p><p>        Alexander had thus begun researching magic in great detail ever since, desperate to find a way to break the barrier, or at least, to find out how or why such a thing could be put up. This, so far, had turned up a lot of information on Wicca practitioners and modern-day pagans, but nothing that could possibly relate to the barrier. The "spells" he'd found online mostly seemed to be for far more mundane things, such as for money or partners or for "cleansing" certain energies from a space. None of it had sounded like it could do something like, say, create a magical barrier around an entire town. </p><p>        But then Adam Scott had showed up. A real, bona-fide, magician. Of a sort, anyway. </p><p>        "I thought you were a Catholic," he'd said upon glancing at Alex's accumulated research one night. </p><p>        "I...I am," Alexander had blurted out nervously. "It's...it's just that..." </p><p>         "Just what?" Adam had asked, looking at Alexander quizzically. "</p><p>         "It's hard to explain," Alexander had sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." </p><p>         Adam, for his part, simply held out his arm, took out a steel knife, and ran the sharp edge alongside his arm. Not only was there no blood from this bizarre reaction, there wasn't even a small scratch.</p><p>         "As you can see, I'm pretty remarkable myself," he'd said. "So you can be pretty sure I won't roll my eyes at any preternatural explanations for it."</p><p>          "It...it would be better if I showed you," Alexander gasped, still staring in awe at Adam's arm. </p><p>         And thus Alexander had his soon-to-be stepfather drive him down to the town line, where Alexander showed him what the barrier did. </p><p>         "Fascinating," Adam had said, his eyes wide with amazement. "This...this explains a <em>lot</em>, actually." </p><p>         "What...what do you mean?"  </p><p>         "It explains why I can't do magic here," he said. "I'm a magician, you see. At least, I am outside of Greenhope Bay."</p><p>         "Really?" Alexander gasped. "How much magic? How many others are there like you?" </p><p>         "A lot," Adam had told him. "As to how many magicians there are in the world...I don't know. Hundreds, at least. I know I'm not the only magician in Greenhope, though. My brothers, Cody, Isaac, and Brant-they're all magicians too." </p><p>        "Do you know why someone would put up such a barrier?" Alexander had asked. </p><p>        Adam shook his head. </p><p>        "No," he replied. "But I know it was another magician who did it. And I think I can help you break it." </p><p>         And ever since, they'd been partners in their efforts to break down the mystery barrier. Adam believed they were quite close to it, now, and was confident that the barrier would be gone in time for the wedding. Alexander was not so confident, but then again, he wasn't a magician, so how would he know? </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>            Cody couldn't help but roll his eyes as he half-listened to Isaac and Brant going on about how <em>another demigod</em> had arrived and was slated to be at the wedding. Isaac and Brant were fools; always had been. They could never think about anything but food; consequences and risk were foreign concepts to them. </p><p>            But not to Cody. Especially not when he considered what had happened to King Lycaon a while back. In Cody's opinion, settling for mortal flesh was better than getting killed by a demigod. ESPECIALLY when you considered that none of the four members of their pack knew how experienced this new demigod was. </p><p>            Tartarus, even if this demigod was massively inexperienced, he still had an advantage over them-that being that every mortal in the world knew what a werewolf was. The minute he saw them shifting, all he had to do was look for the good silverware. </p><p>           And then, of course, there was the fact that the protective barrier prevented the pack from shifting into their wolf form. Meaning, none of them could shift until Adam got that stupid Alexander to lift the barrier. And therefore, they couldn't actually eat him <em>or</em> his family yet. </p><p>          So in other words, there was nothing to celebrate. Only more to be wary of. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Wedding Preparations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Eva goes dress shopping. Adam takes Leo to buy a tuxedo. Alexander takes inventory of ritual components.<br/>Cody persuades Adam to change up the wedding date.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>           "I can't believe you left picking your wedding dress until the week of the wedding," Mitzi scoffed as Eva scooped up her selection of wedding dresses.</p><p>            Eva eyed her best friend, who, true to form, was day drinking from her hip flask. Rosa sat behind Mitzi and scowled disapprovingly.   </p><p>           "I'm a single mother, businesswoman, and town council member," Eva countered as she walked into the dressing room. "Plus, I'm forty-two. Too old to be sweating over the perfect dress." </p><p>           With that, Eva tried on the first dress, a cream-colored mermaid tail one with puffy cap sleeves. She walked out and showed Mitzi and Rosa, both of whom with completely opposite reactions. </p><p>           "I like it," Mitzi said, glowing with approval. "Sophisticated, yet innocent."</p><p>           Rosa shook her and frowned. </p><p>           "Too girlish," she said. "You look like you're pretending to be nineteen." </p><p>           Eva looked down on it, at herself, and couldn't help but agree. This dress <em>did</em> belong on a much younger woman-and a much more <em>naive</em> one at that. She walked back in the dressing room without a word and took it off. </p><p>           Dress number two had a voluminous ball gown-esque skirt, and an enormous tulle bow tied across the waist. It was a fairly lovely choice of gown, but this time the reactions were reversed. </p><p>           "Now <em>that</em> is a lovely dress," Rosa said with a smile smile. "Very much worthy of a bride." </p><p>           "Too traditional," Mitzi said, shaking her head. "Too elaborate. Not her at all." </p><p>           Indeed, it wasn't. It <em>might</em> have been her before Alexander was born, but Eva was far less arrogant then she was back then. </p><p>           "Eva could do with a bit of tradition," Rosa countered. "Heaven knows she never invited us to her <em>first</em> wedding."</p><p>           <em>And you're still mad about that</em>, Eva thought as she fought the urge to roll her eyes. <em>Even though there never </em>was<em> a wedding and it was sixteen years ago. </em></p><p>           "Considering how you bring that up on an almost hourly basis, I can see why," Mitzi snapped as Eva walked back into the dressing room. </p><p>           The third dress was a keeper. It had the same enormous tulle bow as the first one, but the skirt, rather than being voluminous, trailed behind her instead. It was off the shoulder with sheer angel sleeves as well, creating a very elegant look.  </p><p>            Clearly Rosa and Mitzi agreed as well, applauding and declaring that she looked amazing. Confident in her choice of dress, Eva changed, bought the dress, and exited the boutique with Mitzi and Rosa in tow.  Upon doing which, Mitzi asked,</p><p>           "Excuse me, Eva, can I borrow you for a bit?"</p><p>           "Fine," Rosa sighed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'll meet you at the house, Eva." </p><p>           With that, Rosa got into her car and drove off, leaving Mitzi and Eva alone outside the boutique, sans transport home. </p><p>           "You don't need to do this," Mitzi said as the two of them walked along the sidewalk to Mitzi's house, which was only a block away. "You don't need a man to be complete, Eva." </p><p>            Eva sighed and rolled her eyes. Of <em>course</em> Mitzi would be like this. As much as Eva loved Mitzi for her spunk and passionate feminism, she could be incredibly judgmental whenever she thought something was being done for the wrong reasons. </p><p>           "I'm not doing this to be <em>complete</em>," she snapped. "I'm doing this because Adam is handsome and kind and gets along with Alexander. If those aren't good reasons to get married, then I don't know what would be." </p><p>           Mitzi raised an eyebrow. </p><p>          "And the fact Adam and all three of his brothers are <em>dead broke</em> doesn't ring any alarm bells to you?" she pointed out. </p><p>           Eva sighed. It was true that Adam and his brothers weren't exactly the wealthiest people out there. And Eva supposed she herself would be suspicious if she was looking at if from the outside. But Eva hadn't told Adam about the money until <em>well</em> into their relationship, <em>long</em> after she was certain he wasn't the gold-digging type.   </p><p>          "Adam loves me for <em>far</em> more than my money," Eva assured her friend, gritting her teeth in frustration. "Trust me. I made sure of that."</p><p>          Mitzi sighed and shook her head.</p><p>          "Of course you would," she said as they approached Mitzi's house, a tiny little Cape Cod design in the middle of Greenhope Bay's shopping area. "You wouldn't trust just anyone to be Alexander's stepfather. I'm sorry, it's just-" </p><p>          "You get nervous whenever anyone new arrives in town," Eva finished for her. "I don't blame you, Mitzi." </p><p>          Considering that Mitzi was a demigod herself-a middle-aged daughter of Hecate, drawn to Greenhope Bay because of the protective barrier and the quite life it offered her- Eva could hardly blame the woman. Even though the barrier prevented monsters from entering, a lifetime of paranoia was hard to shake. </p><p>        "Oh, that's a relief," Mitzi said with a sigh as she unlocked her car. "I don't want any hard feelings between us or anything." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>          <em>This is stupid</em>, Leo groused inwardly as he walked into the tuxedo store with Adam Scott. <em>I should be shanking this guy with the good silver, not going shopping with him</em>.</p><p>          Of course, it would have looked incredibly suspicious if he hadn't. After all, as Adam himself had pointed out:</p><p>         "Since you're going to the wedding, it's important that you be appropriately dressed for the occasion." </p><p>          And since Leo had <em>naturally</em> not brought a tuxedo, Adam had oh-so-generously offered to take Leo to pick one out. A trip which undoubtedly contained plenty of ulterior motives; not the least of which was figuring out whether or not Leo had a grip on the whole he's-really-a-werewolf situation. </p><p>         What was worse, Adam had already bought a tuxedo with Alexander, making it totally unnecessary for him to come along. As much as Alexander hated him, Leo would honestly have preferred it if Alexander was here with him. Not <em>just</em> because Leo was now totally alone with a lycanthrope that had undoubtedly caught his scent by now. </p><p>        But because Leo would <em>also</em> have the opportunity to warn Alexander, to give him a heads-up on what was really happening. Something which was <em>especially</em> necessary when you considered how freaking <em>close</em> Alexander was with the werewolf; the two were practically <em>best friends</em>.   </p><p>        Shit. Alexander really had a bad habit of trusting people he shouldn't, didn't he? Blame it on the Asperger's, blame it on the fact that he'd   grown in up in an idyllic small town, but the fact was Alexander was not the best judge of character. After all, he liked <em>Tia Rosa</em>, didn't he? </p><p>        No. Alexander didn't just like Tia Rosa, he thought she was one of the most <em>wonderful</em> people in the world. Which was<em> hilarious</em>, considering what she liked to say about Alexander behind his back. During Leo's brief stay with her as a child, Rosa's second favorite activity-besides calling Leo a demon child-was spewing all kinds of bullshit about Alexander. How Alexander's autism was the result of Tia Eva-*gasp!* vaccinating Alexander as a child. How Alexander being autistic was a perfect punishment for Tia Eva's "sins". Her "sins" being, according to Rosa, Tia Eva moving from Houston to New York for college at Esperanza's suggestion, and also apparently, getting rich via her marriage. </p><p>        And, as Leo had learned last night, Tia Rosa had not dropped that little habit at all. In fact, she was perfectly willing to make fun of her nephew so long as neither he nor Tia Eva were in earshot. </p><p>         Leo's musings were interrupted when, upon their arrival at the tuxedo shop, he saw that Charlie the satyr was there, apparently shopping for tuxedos. </p><p>         Leo gave Adam the excuse of needing to pee, and then snuck off to talk to Charlie somewhere private. </p><p>         "What are you <em>doing</em>?" Leo asked him. "You haven't somehow managed to get invited to the wedding, have you?" </p><p>         "No," Charlie growled. "Unfortunately, I've sort of <em>failed</em> to make friends with Alexander. I'm going to sneak into the wedding, keep a low profile until the lycanthropes make their move. But right now, I'm keeping an eye on the lycanthropes' movements." </p><p>         Leo raised an eyebrow. </p><p>         "Why not just kill him right now? Do you not have any silver on you?" </p><p>         "Because if I kill him before he attacks anyone, <em>everyone</em> will notice and get suspicious. And because the family all think  Adam's a dirty rotten gold digger, any one of them could get arrested on suspicion of his death. And that's if a <em>good</em> cop investigates it. Worst case scenario, either Alexander or Ms. Vasquez could be blamed." </p><p>         "Can't you just use the Mist to make everyone forget about him?" </p><p>         Charlie laughed bitterly. </p><p>         "Make all the mortals just <em>forget</em> about the groom with all this wedding planning?" he pointed out. "No. That's not happening. I could craft a narrative about him leaving Ms. Vasquez at the altar, but that's only <em>after</em> we've killed him." </p><p>          Leo shrugged. </p><p>          "Fine. Have it your way. But I still think you're risking my cousin's life over nothing." </p><p>           Charlie rolled his eyes. </p><p>          "You should head back. The lycanthrope will be getting suspicious about now." </p><p>          And so Leo did, and spent a while trying on tuxedos with Adam Scott. When they'd picked out and bought the right one, they got back in the car and starting driving off. </p><p>          "I know what the rest of the family's been saying about me," Adam said as he was driving. "That I'm a gold digger." </p><p>          "Have they?" Leo asked innocently, although he had in fact heard Uncle Mateo say that very thing about Adam last night. "I didn't hear it." </p><p>          "Well, it's not true," Adam insisted. "I'm not marrying Eva for the money. I want you to know that I love Eva with all my heart, and I'd still be marrying even if she was as dead broke as me and my brothers are. You understand?" </p><p>           Was Adam not aware of what Leo knew? Or was this just a test to see what Leo did know? If so, better not give him anything. </p><p>          "You realize denying it so heavily only makes it more plausible, right?" Leo joked. </p><p>           Adam chuckled. </p><p>          "That's true," he admitted. "But I'm not marrying Eva for the money. I swear." </p><p>          "No, of course not," Leo replied. </p><p>          <em>Because you're in fact marrying her so you can chow down on my cousin</em>, he added to himself. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>          Small iron cauldron, check. Red candles, check. White and pink paint to dip the candles in, check. Candle snuffer to snuff out the candles once the barrier was down, check. Lighter, check. </p><p>          And now, with  the silvery knife, or <em>athame</em>, that Adam had asked Alexander to buy, everything that they needed for the final ritual was complete. Alexander put the athame in the cauldron and closed his closet door. </p><p>          Now it was a matter of avoiding his cousins and waiting for Saturday, when the final ritual would take place. The uncles and aunts were all absent, fortunately, on various wedding duties that Eva had assigned them to. Uncle Enrique was busy arranging the <em>Cotillón, </em>the traditional photo booth for people to take funny pictures in.  His wife, Aunt Isobel, was making arrangements for the <em>tornaboda</em>, the party after the wedding reception.  Uncle Mateo was busy procuring the wedding lasso, which was to be looped around Eva and Adam after the wedding vows. </p><p>           Aunt Maria was in charge of getting the wedding coins ready-the thirteen gold coins that would be presented to Alexander's mother as a symbol of how Adam Scott trusted her with his money. Not that Adam Scott had much money to give; being a magic practitioner was not, apparently, all that lucrative. When Aunt Maria had been assigned this task, she'd snidely remarked that they should be presenting the coins to Adam, since Eva was the one who had the actual <em>money</em>.  This suggestion was of course shot down by Alexander's mother. </p><p>          But the point it made still stood. The longer his relatives stayed here, the more clear it was to Alexander that a <em>lot</em> of them believed Adam to be a gold digger. After all, Mrs. Eva Vasquez was a widow with a good job and a small fortune, and Adam Scott was a broke construction worker. Why wouldn't they assume Adam was in it for the money? </p><p>          Very few of Alexander's relatives besides Aunt Maria were brave enough to voice those suspicions, of course, but if Alexander, lacking in social skills as he was, could see it, his mother undoubtedly could.  And this, alongside the way they acted about Alexander's autism, about the money, and everything to do with Alexander's father in general, made them even <em>more</em> annoying. </p><p>          Eva Vasquez, despite being far away and relatively estranged from the Valdez extended clan, had done them a <em>lot</em> of good. She'd paid for a good portion of Cousin Raphael's recent wedding without so much as demanding to have a role in the ceremony as a <em>madrina</em>, also known as godmother or wedding sponsor. Which, when you considered how important wedding sponsors were in their culture, said a <em>lot</em>.  When Aunt Josefina needed to get a divorce from her good-for-nothing husband, Alexander's mother had strong-armed one of her lawyer friends into taking Aunt Josefina's case and doing it <em>pro bono</em>.  And she'd also paid for a good portion of Aunt Josefina's wedding to her <em>second</em> husband, again, without so much as asking to be included in the ceremony as a <em>madrina</em>. </p><p>         With all that Alexander's mother had done for her family, despite being so far away in Maine and relatively estranged, the <em>least</em> the extended Valdez clan could do was be supportive and happy for her. As opposed to, you know, gossiping about her fiance. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>          "You <em>need</em> to persuade Eva to change the date," Cody insisted as he and Adam stared at each other over the kitchen table in the house the pack had rented. Normally, he didn't like to challenge the pack leader like this, but with what he'd learned recently, Adam needed to speed up the timeline or else things would get ugly. </p><p>          "Why?" Adam scoff. "Are you incapable of waiting 'til Saturday? I never took you for a glutton like Isaac and Brant." </p><p>        "And <em>I</em> never took <em>you</em> for a moron," Cody snapped. "A moron so stupid he'd decide that tangling with the <em>infamous</em> Leo Valdez while the barrier's still up is a good idea." </p><p>        "Oh come on, there's got to be <em>lots</em> of people named Leo Valdez," Adam said casually, "Especially in Texas." </p><p>        "And are they all <em>demigods</em>?" Cody countered. "Do they <em>all</em> carry magical tool belts around their waist like that kid does?  Are they all capable of casually holding conversations with satyrs?" </p><p>         Adam's eyes widened. </p><p>         "<em>What</em>?" he gasped. </p><p>         "Yeah, that nosy satyr who's been poking his nose into our business?" Cody snapped. "I saw him talking to your future nephew while you were at the tuxedo shop. And that's not all; I found a bronze dragon nesting in the woods nearby with some chick."</p><p>          Adam furrowed his brow. </p><p>         "Some...chick? Since when does Leo have a girlfriend?" </p><p>        "Who cares?" Cody cried. "What other demigod do you know that rides around on a bronze dragon? It's <em>that</em> Leo Valdez, make no mistake. The same one that killed Lycaon a while back. And if he could stand against <em>Lycaon</em>, he certainly has a chance against us." </p><p>         "So what you do want me to do?" Adam exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. </p><p>         "You tell Eva to change the wedding date to Wednesday," Cody began, relieved that Adam was finally listening to him. "Since tomorrow is Tuesday, that gives Leo and the satyr less time to prepare. But before you do that, you do the final ritual with Alexander <em>tonight</em>. The kid probably won't mind, in fact, he'll probably be ecstatic at the shortened timeline." </p><p>         "Why tonight?" Adam asked, glancing at the setting sun. "It's already getting late; why is it so important-" </p><p>         "Because if she <em>doesn't</em> agree to change the date," Cody pointed out, "We'll have more time in our natural forms to get rid of Leo with." </p><p>         Adam grinned evilly. </p><p>         "I see," he said. "You are a brilliant lieutenant, Cody." </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Barrier Comes Down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The barrier over Greenhope Bay is dispelled. Eva changes the wedding date to Thursday, and, believing that Charlie was the one to dispel the barrier, tries to track him down. Alexander discovers his powers, much to his horror.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>         "I can't believe this is <em>happening</em>," Alexander whispered excitedly as he and Adam carried the supplies to the town center. "I can't believe I'll finally be able to leave Greenhope Bay!"</p><p>         He'd have to get his mother's permission, of course, but still! No more invisible barrier trapping him in this small town. Alexander could go anywhere, whenever he wanted-within reason, of course.</p><p>         "What persuaded you to change it to today?" Alexander asked his stepfather-to-be. </p><p>         Adam shrugged. </p><p>         "You said we had all the supplies, so I figured we might as well strike while the iron is hot," he said. </p><p>         "Oh." </p><p>         So...there hadn't been anything important about Saturday, then. Adam had just chosen the date at random. </p><p>         They quickly sat down and began preparing for the ritual. First, they had to fill both the small cauldrons with white and pink paint respectively. Then, they had to dip the candles into the paint. This was because the candles were conduits for what Adam called a reversing spell. According to Adam, the white and pink represented protection, a.k.a., the barrier. Whereas the red, the color underneath, represented freedom, their goal. White and pink on top, with red underneath, thus represented a desire to dispel the protection for the purpose of freedom. </p><p>       Once the candles had their paint, Adam arranged them into a very specific geometric pattern, and lit them all. They then stepped back from the candles, Adam taking up his loosely bound spellbook of sorts, and Alexander taking up the <em>athame</em>. </p><p>       "We have completed the Dawn Ritual, in order to force the barrier to acknowledge us," Adam announced. "We have completed the Day Ritual, in order to weaken the barrier. And now, we begin the Night Ritual, in order to dispel this barrier over Greenhope Bay for good." </p><p>       Adam turned to Alexander, and said,</p><p>       "Repeat everything I say, until I tell you otherwise. Understand?" </p><p>       Alexander nodded. Adam, satisfied, turned away and exclaimed, </p><p>       "Reveal yourself, barrier." </p><p>       "Reveal yourself, barrier." </p><p>       And immediately the same shimmering barrier that had prevented Alexander from leaving two years ago became visible, showing how it stretched all over town. </p><p>       "It is time for you to begone, barrier," Adam continued. </p><p>       "It is time for you to be gone, barrier," Alexander repeated. </p><p>       "Come to me, and allow yourself to be dispelled," Adam declared. </p><p>       "Come to me, and allow yourself to be dispelled." </p><p>       The barrier then surged forth, until it was right in front of Alexander and Adam. </p><p>       "Come, barrier, meet your end at last." Adam announced. </p><p>       "Come, barrier, meet your end at last." Adam repeated. </p><p>        Adam turned to Alexander and said, </p><p>        "You don't need to repeat anymore. Now, take the athame and slice through the barrier." </p><p>        Alexander nodded and sliced through the barrier with the athame. It exploded with a horrid popping sound, like he'd come right up to a firework. Stunned by the pain, Alexander dropped the athame and covered his ears. </p><p>         "You did it, kid," Adam breathed, as up above them the barrier began collapsing on it on itself, crumpling into small balls of a shimmery dust-like substance against the night sky. Then, those dust-like balls disappeared, and a cold wind blew up against the both of them as they stood in the town square. </p><p>        "It's...gone..." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>          Leo awoke to the sound of something like fireworks in the distance. </p><p>          "What...what was that?" he cried, utterly surprised. </p><p>          "It's the barrier," he heard Charlie's voice say from outside the window. "It's gone." </p><p>           Stunned, Leo opened the window and whispered, </p><p>           "What...what barrier? And why are you here?" </p><p>           "There was a magic barrier," Charlie explained. "All over the town. It prevented Alexander from leaving town, and monsters from getting in and eating him. Or it did, up until it was dispelled just now." </p><p>          Leo rubbed his temples, his mind still foggy from sleep.</p><p>         "Wait...if monsters couldn't get in, then...what are the lycanthropes doing here?" </p><p>         "Because Eva invited them here," Charlie snapped. "Like an idiot, she gave them permission to drive into town. It's like the Camp Half-Blood wards; monsters can't get in unless they're invited."</p><p>          "Well, who set this barrier up?" Leo demanded, not a little jealous of Alexander right now. Why was he so important that he got magic protection where other demigods didn't? "And who broke it just now?" </p><p>          "As to the first question," Charlie began, "Well, it was probably Eva and whatever god she hooked up with. As to the second question...I guarantee you it was one of the lycanthropes." </p><p>          Leo's jaw dropped. </p><p>         "What? Why...would they drop the barrier? Doesn't it...you know, prevent competitors from coming in and eating Alexander?" </p><p>         "Yeah, but it also prevents them from shifting and eating him," Charlie said. "Back when the barrier was up, they were no different from any other mortals." </p><p>         "So that's why you weren't all that worried back at the shop," Leo realized. "Because they were so hampered by the barrier." </p><p>         "Yes," Charlie confirmed. "And now that the barrier's down...prepare for things to get weird." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>          "So we're agreed then?" Father Armand said as they met in his office. "We're moving up the wedding to Thursday?"</p><p>           Eva nodded.</p><p>           "Yes."</p><p>          And with that, they shook hands and Eva left the church.  In truth, Eva was not exactly <em>pleased</em> with this new arrangement; this had to be the <em>worst</em> possible time to move up the wedding date. It wasn't because of the wedding planning; with everyone's diligence in helping get things ready yesterday, they were still on track even with the moved-up wedding date. No, it was because the barrier, the barrier that had surrounded Greenhope Bay for sixteen years, was <em>gone</em>. </p><p>            There had been some sort of explosion noise last night, and then Eva had looked up at the night sky and seen the remnant of the barrier coalescing into nothingness. Who had done it? And why? </p><p>           Not Mitzi. Her sole reason for being here <em>was</em> the barrier. And none of Eva's family even knew the barrier <em>existed</em> in the first place. And considering that you had to perform three very specific rituals in order to break the barrier, it could only be someone who, at bare minimum, had a basic knowledge of magic and the other world. </p><p>            Which...there weren't that <em>many</em> of in Greenhope Bay.  Excluding Mitzi and Eva, the people who fit those categories comprised of a grand total of <em>three</em> people. </p><p>           There was Father Armand, who'd she just finished talking to. He was a mortal who, while he didn't practice it himself, was descended from practitioners of ancient Egyptian magic. But he'd never wanted <em>anything</em> to do with his family's magical past. It was why he became a priest in the <em>first</em> place. Taking down the barrier would require doing the one thing he'd never wanted to do: practice magic. </p><p>          Which was more than you could say for the other two.  Farrah Lockley, Eva's rival on the town council, was <em>more</em> than willing to use a little magic if it meant getting things done. But the barrier didn't affect her in anyway; the only person it prevented from leaving was <em>Alexander</em>. Not that Farrah didn't think the barrier was helicopter parenting on a whole new level...but while she was a menace in the political arena, she'd always respected Eva's parenting decisions. </p><p>         And that left...Charlie, that annoying, meddling satyr.  The one who kept <em>insisting</em> Alexander be taken to Camp Half-Blood. Who kept saying that the barrier was 'special treatment' that other demigods didn't get, and therefore Alexander shouldn't either.  Never mind what Eva had to say about the matter; Charlie was an oh-so-important satyr from Camp Half-Blood, and Eva, in his eyes, was just a mere mortal. No need to consult <em>her</em>; she was just some god's baby mama. What could she know? </p><p>        A great deal, actually. Like that taking Alexander to Camp Half-Blood would effectively be a slap in the face to <em>all</em> of Mount Olympus. That the minute Alexander's existence was made public, he would become a target. But more importantly, Greenhope Bay was Alexander's <em>home</em>. That Alexander had never known anything different. That throwing Alexander into a summer camp/permanent residence of dozens of demigods who would probably hate him-for his parentage, for his autism, take your pick-would likely be incredibly <em>bad</em> for him.   </p><p>          Charlie was <em>definitely</em> behind this. It made perfect sense. He had practically all the motive, certainly had the knowledge, and tons of opportunity. Which meant the next thing on her list was tracking that little bastard down and making damn sure he didn't try to cart Alexander off now that he had the ability to do so. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>             <em>Shit</em>, Alexander thought as he tried to reach the high cabinet where the blender was located. Of all the times to only be five feet four inches tall. </p><p>              Alexander stood up on his tiptoes once more to reach the cabinet, and...success! He'd finally done it! Alexander closed his hands on the blender and lowered himself back on to the ground. </p><p>              Just as he did, however, he heard the crash of the porcelain mixing bowl behind him. Turning back around to hand Aunt Maria the blender, he saw that she had dropped the mixing bowl  on the floor.</p><p>             "You...you flew," she gasped, her hands shaking. </p><p>             "And you broke Mom's favorite mixing bowl," Alexander pointed out, equally horrified as he stared at the broken beige bowl with maroon designs all over it. </p><p>             Being equally aware of that second fact, Aunt Maria immediately reached down to scoop up the big pieces of the shattered bowl. Alexander stooped down to pick up the tinier pieces. Just as he did, however, a small funnel of wind appeared, sweeping up all the small pieces, even the most microscopic ones nobody could have spotted, into a pile. The wind funnel then dumped the pile into the trash can and disappeared. </p><p>            "How...how... you did it again!" Aunt Maria cried. "How are you doing that?" </p><p>           "I...I don't <em>know</em>!" Alexander exclaimed, equally shaken. "I've never been able to do it before...before..."</p><p>           <em>Before today</em>, Alexander realized with horror. <em>Before the barrier went down, I never had </em>any <em>special powers. </em></p><p>           And the barrier only kept <em>Alexander</em> from leaving town. Not anyone else; just Alexander. Up until now, Alexander had never considered why the barrier was there in any seriousness. He'd assumed it was probably the work of some sort of evil magician or sorcerer. During particularly trying days, he liked to fantasize about the sorcerer being a mean teacher, or any one of the nastier sort of bullies that plagued Alexander at school. Sometimes he even liked to pretend it was that annoying Charlie from social skills classes. </p><p>           But what if the sorcerer who put it up <em>hadn't</em> been evil? What if they'd put it up for a very good reason? To keep in whatever...whatever was inside Alexander.</p><p>           He need to find Adam. Better yet, he needed to find Father Armand. </p><p>          "Excuse me, Aunt Maria," he said as he ran out of the kitchen and onto the street. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>            "Alexander?" Leo cried, utterly dumbfounded to find his cousin at the church entrance. "What are you doing here? It's...It's <em>Tuesday</em>!" </p><p>            Not to mention, wasn't Alexander supposed to be helping Tia Maria make cakes for the wedding? </p><p>           "I can't talk right now, Leo," Alexander said through gritted teeth, his hands curled into fists. "I need to see Father Armand." </p><p>            Leo raised an eyebrow. </p><p>           "Why...do you need to see Father Armand?"  he asked. "Are you going to confession or something?" </p><p>           "It's none of your business," Alexander said sharply. "Go away." </p><p>           "Look, Alexander," Leo began, stepping toward his cousin just a bit, "I know that I wasn't exactly the best house-guest in the past, but...you can talk to me. Whatever's wrong, you can-" </p><p>           "Get away from me!" Alexander cried, putting his hand up to say stop. The minute he did, a huge gust of wind slammed into Leo, pushing him back a few feet from Alexander and causing him to land on the sidewalk. </p><p>            <em>Holy shit,</em> Leo thought, <em>Alexander is</em> powerful. </p><p>            Alexander must have seen Leo's surprised expression, because his eyes immediately filled with worry and he said apologetically: </p><p>            "Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, Leo, I'm so sorry-" </p><p>           "No, it's fine," Leo assured him as he got up. "I'm fine-" </p><p>           "No, you're not," Alexander insisted in a horrified voice. "You're not fine. You're...you're...you need to get away from me, Leo! I'm...I'm a monster!"</p><p>          With that, Alexander made a mad dash into the church and disappeared. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>           <em>Shit,</em> Charlie thought as he watched Leo get knocked down by a blast of air. <em>Shit. I think I have a sneaking suspicion as to who Alexander's godly parent is. </em></p><p>          Before he could voice that suspicion, however, Charlie found himself grabbed by the collar and dragged into the alleyway by none other than Eva Vasquez. </p><p>          "Why did you do it, you little bastard?" she spat. "Why did you take down the barrier?" </p><p>          "I...I didn't," Charlie insisted, "It was-" </p><p>          Eva slapped Charlie in the face. </p><p>          "Don't you dare lie to me!" she snapped. "I know it was you!" </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Mending Fences</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Alexander's plea to be exorcised is rejected. Charlie informs Leo of yet another setback. Leo recalls how, exactly, things got so messed up between him and the Vasquezes in the first place. <br/>           After that, Leo decides to let Alexander in on the secret.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>- It's important that Alexander have a non-STEM special interest. Autistic people-the verbal ones, anyway-are constantly portrayed as being STEM geniuses so much, it's become a cliche. Which wouldn't be bad if this cliche weren't also used to de-humanize us on occassion-to compare the supposed "soullessness" of science to Our supposed "soullessness". Thus, it's important to break the mold and also to give Alexander a soul. <br/>- before the comments create a brouhaha, Leo is NOT an anti-vaxxer. If you read carefully, you'll see that he's bullshitting so that Eva and Alexander will hate enough to let him go.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>          "I'm sorry, Alexander, but I cannot perform an exorcism on you," Father Armand said with a sigh. </p><p>          "What?" Alexander cried. "But...but...I'm clearly possessed!" </p><p>          Alexander sighed and levitated himself once more to demonstrate. </p><p>         "It is true that levitation is a sign of possession," Father Armand conceded. "But you would first need to undergo major psychiatric, psychological, and medical testing before we could even <em>begin</em> to consider an exorcism." </p><p>         "Fine," Alexander snapped. "Let's get the tests done, then." </p><p>        "It's not just that," Father Armand replied. "The only people who can perform the Rite of Major Exorcism are bishops or priests who have obtained their bishop's permission. Plus, I was never trained to be an exorcist."</p><p>        "Then...we should find someone who <em>is</em> and get it over with!" </p><p>        Father Armand sighed and shook his head. </p><p>         "I'm afraid I can't do that either." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>         "Bad news," Charlie told Leo as they sat on a picnic table in the park. "I won't be able to sneak into the wedding."</p><p>         Leo's eyes widened in horror.</p><p>         "What?! How-"</p><p>         "Your Aunt Eva," Charlie explained. "She caught me. Tried to make me confess to tearing down the barrier." </p><p>        "<em>Make</em> you-why would she-wait, she <em>knows</em> you exist?" Leo cried. "How?!" </p><p>         Most mortal parents were shockingly clueless about the magical world their demigod children inhabited. Up until now, Leo had assumed Tia Eva was no different. But if she knew about Charlie's existence... </p><p>        "Yes," Charlie admitted. "She knows I'm a satyr. What's more, she knows and can practice a little magic of her own." </p><p>       Leo's eyes widened in horror. </p><p>        "Tia Eva is... a w-a <em>sorceress</em>, and-you <em>didn't tell her</em>," he sputtered. "You <em>didn't tell her</em> about the <em>werewolf!</em>" </p><p>        "I tried," Charlie groaned, "But I...I didn't exactly get off on the right foot with Eva <em>either</em>. Now she won't believe anything I say." </p><p>        Leo seethed in exasperation. </p><p>        "You can't befriend your charge, you can't befriend the mom-you are a <em>lousy</em> satyr!" </p><p>        "I know," Charlie grumbled. "But what's important is, Eva's going to put wards up that ensure I won't be able to get into the church, or the house, or wherever the wedding's currently at." </p><p>        Leo gritted his teeth and pulled the silver bullets he'd made with his tool-belt towards him. </p><p>        "So I'm on my own, is that it?" he snapped. "Just me, dozens of relatives who hate me, and four lycanthropes?" </p><p>         "Not entirely," Charlie pointed out. "There <em>is</em> Alexander. He's turned out to be a rather powerful demigod, hasn't he? You and I both saw what he did in front of the church-" </p><p>         "He has <em>no training</em>," Leo pointed out. "And he didn't even realized he had powers until today." </p><p>         "Not so long ago, <em>you</em> didn't have powers," Charlie countered. "And look at where you are now. Don't be so quick to underestimate the kid." </p><p>         Just then Leo heard Alexander say behind him: </p><p>         "Fucking hell, you're not hanging out with <em>Charlie</em>, are you?"</p><p>         Both Leo and Charlie turned and found a somewhat grumpy-looking Alexander behind them.</p><p>        "<em>Cousin</em>!" Leo exclaimed nervously, leaning on the table so as to hide the silver bullets. "How are you?"</p><p>        "Not well," Alexander admitted. "I'm...Father Armand wouldn't-anyway, you'd better steer of Charlie if you're not planning on leaving anytime soon." </p><p>         Leo blinked in surprise. </p><p>         "Steer...<em>clear</em>?" </p><p>         "Yeah," Alexander told him. " Trust me-you're just setting yourself up for disaster if you try to make friends with him. Charlie is the kind of guy who will pretend to be nice to you to your face, but the minute your back is turned-he will sell you out to your worst enemy." </p><p>        Holy shit.  When Charlie had told him that he'd failed to become Alexander's friend, Leo had just assumed the two didn't hang out. But this...this was worse than just not being friends. This was...this was outright animosity. </p><p>        "What the hell did you do?" Leo cried, turning to Charlie in horror.  </p><p>        "It was just a misunderstanding!" Charlie protested, throwing his hands up in the air. </p><p>        "Oh, yeah, there was <em>definitely</em> a misunderstanding," Alexander snapped. "In that I failed to understand just how much of a lying snake you are." </p><p>        "I-I wasn't <em>lying</em>!" Charlie cried. </p><p>        Alexander glared at Charlie. </p><p>        "You told me you thought I was awesome, amazing even. But not a week later, I find you telling Tommy Lascelles, king of the jocks and douchebag extraordinaire, about how I'm a <em>freak</em>." </p><p>        Alexander made an approximation of rolling his eyes; being autistic, according to Tia Eva, apparently hampered one's ability to master the art of making facial expressions correctly. </p><p>        "If that's not the definition of being a lying, backstabbing snake, I don't know what is," he hissed. </p><p>         And with that, Alexander walked away in a huff. </p><p>         Leo turned to Charlie and glared at him. </p><p>         "You better <em>not</em> have bullied my cousin for being autistic, you-" </p><p>         "I didn't!" Charlie insisted. "I was being <em>sarcastic</em> when I said that!" </p><p>         "<em>Sarcastic</em>?!" Leo cried, utterly perplexed. </p><p>         "Yeah," Charlie explained. " That guy Alexander mentioned- he and his friends were talking shit about him, saying all kinds of horrible things about him. Things I didn't agree with at all-and so I was trying to let them have a piece of my mind. When I said that Alexander was a 'freak', I meant it sarcastically- I would have gone on to say that Tommy and his friends were, awful, awful people,  and they didn't deserve to be within spitting distance of him." </p><p>         Charlie lowered his eyes to the ground. </p><p>         "But none of that happened. Instead, all I got to say was 'Yeah, <em>Alexander'</em>s a freak' before we all realized Alexander was listening. And since Alexander doesn't understand sarcasm..."</p><p>         "He though you really meant it, felt betrayed, and never wanted to speak to you again," Leo finished. "I think I understand." </p><p>          Charlie's eyes widened. </p><p>          "You do?" </p><p>          "Yes," Leo admitted, pain welling up inside him at the memories.  "Because two years ago, I did something similar. Something <em>worse</em>."</p><p>          It had been a month and three days into Leo's visit with the Vasquezes. Although it had long since stopped feeling like a 'visit' and was starting to feel like a permanent arrangement. A very <em>comfortable</em> permanent arrangement at that. Tia Eva had been <em>nothing</em> but kind to him, despite his record, despite what Tia Rosa said.  And Alexander...Leo and Alexander had grown very close. Less like cousins and more like...friends, <em>brothers</em> almost.  Alexander helped Leo with his homework-so much so that it just <em>barely</em> managed to not be cheating. And Leo, in turn, defended Alexander from bullies and stayed by his side.  </p><p>          So cozy was it all that Tia Eva decided to take it one step further.</p><p>          "I'm <em>going</em> to adopt him," Leo had heard Tia Eva shout into the phone as he stood on the stairs. "And you can't change my mind, Josefina. He is a <em>wonderful</em> boy when you give him the chance-<em>none</em> of the things Rosa's said about him are true.  He's not a demon, and he did <em>not</em> kill Esperanza." </p><p>           It was those words-that assertion of Leo's innocence-that threw a wrench into Tia Eva's plans. Present-day Leo knew, of course, that it was Gaia who'd killed his mother but fourteen-year-old Leo...he still <em>very</em> much felt guilty for her death. No matter what the earth-woman's role was in it, fourteen-year-old Leo still considered himself his mother's murderer.</p><p>          At that moment, deep-buried fear rose up from within and formed itself into thought:</p><p>          <em>No. No. I can't stay here. If I do, she'll die. They'll both die. </em></p><p>          If you'd asked fourteen-year-old Leo how, exactly, the Vasquezes were supposed to die, he wouldn't have been able to say exactly. But he had <em>"known</em>" (a.k.a. feared), that they would die in a fire, just like Leo's mother had. A fire that Leo probably <em>would</em> cause. </p><p>           So Leo had done the only thing he knew how to do: run away. But before that, he made sure that they would hate him and never think to search for him. </p><p>           There was a film that he and Alexander had been working on together; a Civil War piece filmed on an old video-camera. Alexander loved history with a passion, especially the Civil War. And he was even more passionate about what he called "de-glamorizing the Confederacy". </p><p>           "One of the things I hate most in this world is how the Confederates are glamorized in media about the Civil War, " Alexander had said one day. "How they're portrayed as noble, wonderful people even though they were fighting to preserve <em>slavery</em>." </p><p>           "Ah," Leo had replied with a chuckle, "Not too fond of Gone With the Wind then, I take it?" </p><p>           Alexander gritted his teeth in fury. </p><p>           "Absolutely not. That movie is the <em>epitome </em>of racist romanticizing of the South, of glamorizing the Civil War and <em>worse</em>, the <em>KKK</em>. That movie should be wiped off the face of the earth."</p><p>           Thus began Alexander's special project-an indie film called The Inglorious South, specially made as an antidote to films like Gone of the Wind. Leo and Alexander had spent countless hours and energy working on it-writing the script, creating the sets, and even filming on occasion. Determined to make Alexander hate him, Leo destroyed all the film in less than two seconds. After that, he'd written a note saying: </p><p>            <em>Your movie was stupid and I hated working on it. </em></p><p>
  <em>             Signed, Leo </em>
</p><p>           Once that was accomplished, Leo packed his things-what he'd brought with him-and took off into the night. He only barely managed to get out of town, however, before the police arrived and brought him back to Greenhope Bay. </p><p>           "Why?" Tia Eva had cried as he and his aunt sat together in the police station. "Why did you do this? I have the adoption papers in my bag! We're <em>so close</em> to becoming a family!"</p><p>           And it was then that Leo said the words he'd come to regret, the words he thought would keep his aunt and cousin safe from him.</p><p>           "Because I can't stand staying another minute in this chilly shithole of a town in shithole Maine," Leo had lied, "With you and your freak of a son." </p><p>            Even then, Tia Eva shook her head, probably correctly assuming that Leo was full of shit. </p><p>            "You're lying," she'd said. "Tell me, Leo-tell me the truth. Whatever it is, we can get through it together-the three of us." </p><p>            Leo hated saying what came next. He hated even more because he'd heard Alexander coming back from the bathroom and knew full well that his cousin was within earshot. </p><p>            "You want the truth?" he'd snapped, fighting to keep the heartbreak down, telling himself it was for the greater good, " Well, the truth is, if you didn't want your son to <em>be</em> like that, you never should have let the doctors pump him full of shots as a baby." </p><p>            Fourteen-year-old Leo had known <em>damn</em> well that vaccines didn't cause autism. He'd known that even before he so much as set foot in Maine. Not only that, he'd regretted those words the instant they left his mouth. But it was the only thing Leo could think of to keep the Vasquezes away from him, away from their potential doom. </p><p>            And the worst part was, it worked. </p><p>             "That's not true!" Alexander had cried behind him, clearly shocked that his best friend would say such a thing. But Tia Eva was much less forgiving. </p><p>             "If you really believe that," she'd said, tears stinging her eyes, "After weeks of living with us, after everything I've taught you-you're not the boy I thought you were." </p><p>             Tia Eva took the adoption papers out of her enormous purse and tore them up. </p><p>             "And you <em>definitely</em> don't deserve to be Alexander's brother," she'd added. "Come on. I'm sending to Aunt Maria's in the morning." </p><p>              But Aunt Maria would not take him. Nor would any of his other aunts and uncles. Instead they all said "I told you so" and told Tia Eva that she never should have trusted him. Thus Leo was sent back to Texas, once again a ward of the state. And thus he entered his fifth foster home. </p><p>            Which technically meant that Leo had run away seven times, if you added what he'd done in Maine to the other six foster homes. But Leo refused to-because whenever he was running from a foster home, he'd never been running from anything of <em>worth</em>. The foster homes were rarely happy places-sometimes, they weren't even safe. Those homes could never  hold a candle to the cozy, wholesome domesticity of Greenhope Bay. With them, he was just hopping from one temporary arrangement to another.  But with Greenhope Bay, he'd been offered a second chance at family-and he'd torn up and burned it to the ground because he was too scared to lose it. </p><p>           No, he hadn't run away from the Vasquezes; he'd walked out on them. </p><p>         "I've got a lot to make up to them," Leo continued, staring back at Charlie. "So, you got any ideas on how I'm supposed to stand against four lycanthropes all by myself with <em>maybe</em> Alexander to help me?"</p><p>           <em>Maybe</em> was assuming that what Alexander said Father Armand <em>wouldn't</em> do was an exorcism, and that Alexander had merely gone to church on the assumption that he was possessed. Something simple like that-as opposed to, you know, Alexander going to church for more general help, and that general help was what Father Armand had refused to do. That Father Armand had chosen to try something akin to the barrier on Alexander, something that Alexander hadn't actually <em>wanted</em>. </p><p>           It was then that Leo realized: he couldn't just <em>save</em> Alexander like he was a passive victim, like Superman saving Lois Lane. Alexander already had <em>enough</em> of that in his life; personally, with the barrier and everything else Tia Eva, and on a broader scale, with misguided normal people trying to "save" autistic people from their autism. No; he had to <em>include</em> Alexander in this; he had to tell Alexander what was going on. </p><p>             He had to tell Alexander <em>everything</em>. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>              "Okay, <em>what</em> are we doing in the park in the middle of the night?" Alexander snapped. </p><p>              Of all the things Alexander would rather be doing at midnight, meeting with Leo was <em>not</em> one of them. </p><p>               "I...have a lot to explain to you, cousin," Leo began, stretching his hands out nervously in a pacifying gesture. "But...let me preface this by saying that...you're not alone. I'm...I'm like you." </p><p>              Alexander made his best approximation of rolling his eyes. </p><p>              "What, you have Asperger's too?" he scoffed. "<em>Congratulations.</em> When did you get diagnosed? Or are you just trying to say that we're alike because you've got ADHD or-" </p><p>              Leo shook his head vehemently. </p><p>              "No, no, no, it's not <em>like</em> that," he insisted. "I'm...I'm... just look." </p><p>              And with that, Leo did something Alexander never thought he'd able to do- he held out his hand and conjured a small ball of flame. </p><p>              Alexander stepped back and gasped, </p><p>              "You're...you're..." </p><p>              "A demigod," Leo explained. "Just like you. A son of Hephaestus, to be precise." </p><p>              A demi- <em>no!</em> No, that was <em>impossible</em>!</p><p>             "My mother...my mother was <em>married</em>," Alexander insisted, but Leo cut him off. </p><p>             "Yeah, that's not true. Your father-I don't know who he is, but I do know that he did not marry your mom, and that he <em>definitely</em> didn't sit through Pre-Cana with her."</p><p>              Alexander swallowed. </p><p>             "And why are you telling me this?" he demanded. "Why are you telling me that I'm illegitimate?" </p><p>              Leo looked Alexander square in the eye, forcing Alexander-probably unintentionally-to see <em>into</em> him, to try and stare into his soul. For reasons Alexander never could understand, neurotypical people seemed unperturbed by this closeness of souls, as if seeing into the depths of another's soul was like staring into a cloudy sky. </p><p>              "Because your soon-to-be stepfather is a werewolf," Leo replied. "One who wants to eat you, your mother, and our <em>entire</em> family." </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. New Information</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Eva freaks out about non-wedding related stuff. Adam reveals that he's kidnapped Calypso and makes an ultimatum. Alexander draws all the wrong conclusions.<br/>      Eva and Alexander have a heart-to-heart where both Eva and Alexander learn things they didn't know before. Eva, horrified by the revelation about Adam, tries to find out how to save Alexander. Then, after putting two and two together about Leo's real parentage, plots with Leo to undermine the wedding.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>               Everything was perfect; everything was in shambles. </p><p>               The wedding was all set to go off without a hitch. Everyone knew their places, everyone knew tommorrow's schedule down to the last minute. For most of the morning, everyone would hang out at home for a casual brunch/breakfast before heading off to the church at noon. There, Father Armand would marry Eva and Adam, declaring them husband and wife at long last.  Once that was concluded, they would have the reception at The Farmstead, an abandoned barn that Farrah Lockley had successfully strong-armed the town council into renovating and transforming into a park and community space for the townsfolk.</p><p>             At the time, Eva had thought the project a foolish waste of taxpayer money. Why spend money developing another park when they already had the perfectly good Greenhope Bay Village Park? But now, three years later, she'd come to understand and appreciate The Farmstead's value. The Greenhope Bay Village Park was alright to take your children to, having a perfectly adequate amount of playground equipment and such. But it had no nature trails, no beautiful things to take pictures of. And it certainly wasn't big enough to host any events at. Eva hated to admit it, but Farrah Lockley's little project made life better and had raised property values in Greenhope Bay <em>quite a bit</em>. </p><p>            Farrah had gloated quite a bit when she'd heard where Eva was hosting the reception. But Farrah could gloat all she wanted; she was not, after all, the one getting married. </p><p>            Outside of the wedding, of course, everything was a total disaster. Eva had heard Maria talking in hushed whispers to Rosa last night; she knew that Alexander had discovered his powers. How he'd tried to get rid of them. Soon the entire family would know. And who knew how many after that? But if only mortal gossip was the end of it. las, no. Eventually, the knowledge would fly all the way to Mount Olympus.  Once that happened...it was all over. Eva and Alexander would both be finished.</p><p>            And as for the satyr who caused this? Who had brought down the barrier? While Eva had made it very clear that Charlie was officially disinvited from the wedding, and had placed charms on the venues to prevent the satyr from entering, that could only go so far. It wasn't as if Eva had the ability to drive Charlie out of town altogether. And because she couldn't force Charlie to leave, Alexander was still in danger. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>         "Is this the chick you saw riding on that bronze dragon?" Adam asked as he and Cody stared at the young woman they had tied to a chair.</p><p>         Cody nodded.</p><p>         "Yep. That's her."</p><p>        "Let me <em>go</em>!" the girl screeched, struggling to get free of her bonds. The gag they tied around her mouth had <em>long</em> since come loose, and the pack was all the worse for it thanks to her high-pitched screaming.</p><p>        But it had been necessary. Not only had the dissolution of the barrier caused Alexanders' powers to develop, but Alexander had also been spotted spending time with Leo. Which meant that he had undoubtedly been clued into everything.  And Adam could not afford that. </p><p>       "Call Eva's place and ask for Leo," Adam ordered, his face set in grim determination. </p><p>       Cody obeyed, hastily dialing the number, politely asking for Leo in a fake voice, and then handing the phone over to Adam. </p><p>       "Hello?" Leo's voice said nervously through the phone. "Who is this?" </p><p>       "A man who's got your girlfriend," Adam told him. "A young lady who'd rather be anywhere else right now." </p><p>       Leo's breath caught in his throat.</p><p>       "<em>Adam</em>?" he gasped, clearly shocked at this development. </p><p>       "I'm not an idiot," Adam growled in response. "I know you <em>know</em> what we really are. And I know what <em>you</em> really are. So let's not lie to each other, shall we?" </p><p>       "Okay," Leo gulped from the phone. "What do you want?" </p><p>       "What I want," Adam told him, "Is for you to abandon whatever scheme you have to stop me and my pack. To stand aside and do nothing. To let me <em>win</em>."</p><p>       "You-you-" </p><p>       Adam could hear Leo walk around to find someplace private; a difficult thing to accomplish in a house full of relatives. When at last Leo had accomplished this, he continued: </p><p>       "You expect me to just...let you <em>eat</em> my family?!" </p><p>       "Yes," Adam replied. "I do. And in return-I will let you live. And I will oh-so-kindly return your precious girlfriend to you with not so much as a single scratch. But if you don't-" </p><p>       Adam turned away from the phone and barked, </p><p>       "Turn it on!" </p><p>        Cody obediently turned on the chainsaw, whereupon it immediately emitted its earsplitting roar for Leo to hear. </p><p>       "Your precious girlfriend gets it," Adam finished gleefully, as Leo gasped in horror from the phone. </p><p>        Meanwhile, in the background, Adam could hear his prisoner whine: </p><p>        "<em>Why</em> did I agree to give up my immortality?" </p><p>        "Now," Adam asked. "Do we understand each other?" </p><p>       "Yes," Leo replied weakly. "We do."</p><hr/>
<hr/><p>           Alexander stared at himself in the mirror, desperately trying to believe that what Leo had said last night was a lie. That it wasn't real, that none of it was real. That he was a normal boy with a normal life, and that all of this was just a nightmare. </p><p>           But he couldn't. Because he wasn't <em>really</em> normal, was he? He'd <em>never</em> been normal. Never would be. </p><p>           Why <em>shouldn't</em> Alexander have a strange ability to control the wind that no priest could save him from? It made sense, didn't it? He was a freak, after all. Why<em> shouldn't</em> he have freakish superpowers? It was only logical. </p><p>          Why <em>shouldn't</em> Alexander's mother have gotten pregnant with him outside of wedlock? After all, why should a freak be born from a <em>lawful</em> union?</p><p>          No. They'd always been right. The anti-vaxxers, Autism Speaks-they'd always been right. Alexander was nothing more than a monster living inside a human skin. Assuming otherwise was nothing more than a lie. </p><p>        Then Alexander heard a knock on the door. </p><p>       "Honey? You alright?" his mother called from the other side. </p><p>       Alexander turned towards the door and choked out, a tear stinging his eye. </p><p>       "I'm fine." </p><p>       "You don't sound fine," his mother pointed out. "Is something wrong?" </p><p>       Alexander sighed and wiped his eyes. </p><p>      "It's just that-" Alexander began, but he stopped himself.  How was he supposed to explain all this? About the mystery barrier around the town, about what he'd done with Adam, about his new powers, about Leo had said-it was too much. Far too much to explain. </p><p>       "You found out about your powers, didn't you?" his mother asked, opening the door to peek in.</p><p>       Alexander's jaw dropped.</p><p>       "You...you knew about that?":</p><p>       His mother chuckled. </p><p>       "I've known about them since you were <em>born</em>, sweetie."</p><p>       "You...you did?"</p><p>       "Yep," his mother replied, opening the door fully and walking in. She then sat down on his bed and added,</p><p>      "I figured that something like this might happen. That you would be...upset."</p><p>       Upset didn't <em>begin</em> to cover it. His entire world had been turned upside down.</p><p>       "Can you...can you tell me where it comes from, then?" Alexander asked. "Why I'm like this?" </p><p>       His mother let out a deep sigh. </p><p>       "Your father," she confessed. "It comes from your father. That's all I can tell you at the moment." </p><p>       Alexander let out a breath. So Leo hadn't been lying, then. Alexander really <em>was</em> a demigod. </p><p>       "Did he...did he know about them too? Did he...<em>have</em> them?" </p><p>       His mother nodded. </p><p>       "Yes," she said, extending a hand to her son. "He knew. That was why he had the barrier erected, so that-" </p><p>        Alexander's eyes widened. </p><p>        "You...you <em>knew</em> about the barrier?" he gasped. "The barrier that prevented me from leaving Greenhope Bay?" </p><p>        "Yes," his mother replied, looking utterly confused. "Why? How do <em>you</em> know about the barrier?" </p><p>        "I...I...I ran into it," Alexander stammered, "Two years ago, when Leo first left. I was riding my bike and it just...stopped me. Stopped me from leaving town lines. It was so weird, I-"</p><p>        His mother's eyes widened as realization seemed to dawn on her.</p><p>        "Your sudden interest in magic," she gasped. "That's why you spent all that time researching-"</p><p>        Alexander nodded.</p><p>       "Yes," he admitted, "But none of it was all that useful. I didn't really get anywhere until Adam came along-" </p><p>        "<em>Adam</em>?!" his mother asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What does Adam have to do with this?" </p><p>        "He was the one who helped me take down the barrier," Alexander explained.</p><p>         His mother's eyes widened as if in horror.</p><p>        "He...he did?"</p><p>        Alexander nodded.</p><p>       "He said he was a magician and that the barrier prevented him from using magic. At the time, I believed it, but...I don't know anymore. Leo...Leo..." </p><p>        Alexander lowered his eyes to the ground.</p><p>        "Leo claims he's a werewolf, but I..."</p><p>       His mother gritted her teeth in anger.</p><p>       "I'm so...stupid!" she cried, balling up her hands into fists. "So stupid! I should've known!" </p><p>       Alexander blinked in surprise. </p><p>       "Mom?!" </p><p>       His mother turned to him and said briefly, </p><p>      "I'm sorry, Alexander. I...I have a few things I need to sort out." </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>           <em>It all makes sense now,</em> Eva thought as she left Alexander's room.</p><p>          The strange disappearance of her notes on the barrier. The odd purchases Alexander had made recently. The closeness between Adam and Alexander. Things Eva, like an idiot, like a naive mortal <em>idiot</em>, had never considered or taken notice of. But when they were all put together, it was all so blindingly obvious. </p><p>          Adam had been manipulating Alexander in order to break the barrier. And worse, according to Alexander...Adam was a <em>werewolf</em>, too. A gods-damned werewolf.</p><p>         Eva had let a werewolf into her house, her home, her life. And her heart. She'd let herself be blinded by love, and Alexander had paid the price. </p><p>         <em>I'm a</em> terrible <em>mother</em>, Eva groaned inwardly. <em>I let myself get complacent.</em> <em>I should've been smarter, more vigilant. </em></p><p>        How could she have been so <em>stupid</em>?  In all their time together, she'd never met Adam's parents, never even talked about them once. Never thought it odd that Adam's side of the family consisted of three alleged brothers. She'd never questioned a damn thing about her relationship with Adam, even when it seemed too good to be true. Especially when it seemed too good to be true. </p><p>       And the wedding was tomorrow. Eva would bet her bottom dollar the only reason Alexander wasn't dead was because <em>that</em> was when Adam planned to eat him. </p><p>       I have to get him out of this, Eva thought desperately. But how? </p><p>      Eva had her magic, of course. But it wasn't that strong-definitely not strong enough to take on a werewolf. Let alone four-because Eva would bet money that Adam's "brothers" were werewolves too. There was also Mitzi-Mitzi would be at the wedding too. But while Mitzi had magic, she wasn't a particularly strong demigod-in fact, she was kind of weak as far as demigods went. That was a huge part of why she'd been attracted to Greenhope Bay and its monster-repelling barrier in the first place. </p><p>        One mortal sorceress and a weak demigod against potentially four werewolves...those were not good odds. </p><p>        Well, you could technically count Alexander-he was a pretty powerful demigod. But...he was also sixteen, and untrained. Plus, the more he used his powers, the more they risked attracting the attention of Mount Olympus.  Which meant that Eva and Mitzi were on their own. Against four werewolves. </p><p>       It was a dilemma which plagued her through the rest of the night, until, by chance, she stumbled upon Leo's room. And the two guns and bunch of silver bullets he was frowning down at. </p><p>       Eva's eyes widened in shock.</p><p>
  <em>     Why does he-? Where did he-?  How-? </em>
</p><p>      And then it dawned on her. </p><p><em>       I'm a fucking idiot, </em>Eva thought to herself. </p><p>       After all, who had Alexander said told him of Adam's true nature? <em>Leo.</em> A sixteen-year-old boy who barely <em>knew</em> Adam, and who had only been in town for a couple days at most. There was no way such a seemingly ordinary kid would be able to figure out Adam's secret unless he already had some foreknowledge of the magical world.</p><p>      And gee, where was Leo's father when Esperanza died? Hell, where was Leo's father in <em>general</em>?  Esperanza had never been too forthcoming about <em>him</em>, had she? </p><p>      Not to mention, wasn't it strange that the rest of the family acted as if Leo was some sort of demon spawn from a horror movie? Especially since when he'd lived here, he'd acted perfectly nice and normal and did <em>nothing</em> to indicate he deserved his bad reputation? </p><p>       It was all so obvious. So damn obvious. Eva was not alone in her family. Esperanza, too, had given birth to a demigod. </p><p>      "Which of them is it?" Eva snapped as she entered the room. "Which of the gods is your father? Do you know?" </p><p>       Leo's eyes widened, his mouth forming a perfect O. Then he took a deep breath and schooled his features into a poker face. </p><p>      "I'll tell you if you tell me who Alexander's dad is," he offered. </p><p>      Eva stiffened. </p><p>      "That," she informed him, "Is a secret which, if made public, will bring the wrath of all Olympus down on Alexander and me." </p><p>       Leo blinked. </p><p>       "That bad, huh?" </p><p>       "Yes." </p><p>       Leo sighed. </p><p>       "Hephaestus," he told her. "It's Hephaestus." </p><p>       Eva glanced down at the guns, and suddenly they made a whole lot more sense. </p><p>       "I see," she replied. "Now tell me: what are we going to do about the werewolf I'm set to marry?" </p><p>       "So you know about that, huh?" Leo said with a chuckle. "Well, I'm afraid I can't help you. They...the werewolves, they...they kidnapped my girlfriend." </p><p>       "And they'll kill her if you interfere, is that it?"  Eva groaned. "Typical. So typical." </p><p>       "Yeah," Leo sighed. "But here's the thing. I only promised that I wouldn't do anything. You and <em>Alexander</em> are perfectly free to act on your own behalf." </p><p>       "What are you implying?" </p><p>        Leo grinned. </p><p>       "I'm saying you hit the werewolves with something they'll never see coming." </p><p> </p><p>         </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Ruined Wedding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Adam and Eva go through the wedding ritual up until the wedding lasso, when Alexander, Eva, and Leo's secret plan at last reveals itself.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            <em>It's all going according to plan,</em> Adam thought as he surveyed the church sanctuary. <em>There's absolutely nothing that can stop us now. </em></p><p>            Adam's gaze rested on Leo Valdez, famous demigod and would-have-been wrench in his plans. Would-have-been because Leo didn't dare make a move with his precious girlfriend in the pack's loving custody. No, all Leo could do was sit in the pews amongst the rest of his relatives and wait for the moment when Adam slaughtered them all. </p><p>            The parade of bridesmaids then began walking down the aisle-a quarter of whom were Eva's friends from town, the rest being various female relatives of hers. All of whom were dressed in breezy, old-fashioned looking pink dresses; and all wore equally happy expressions on their face as they sidled into their places at the altar. Following the bridesmaids was the matron of honor, frumpy, middle-aged demigod Mitzi. She was dressed exactly the others, but she did not look at all happy about it. </p><p>          But she would soon find it'd be the least of her problems, wouldn't she? </p><p>          Following Mitzi were the ringbearer and flower girl-Eva's niece and nephew respectively. And after them...</p><p>         Was the bride herself, Eva Vasquez. </p><p>        Any non-lycanthrope groom would have instantly been struck dumb by her grace and beauty as she glided down the aisle, displaying not so much as a hint of nervousness. Watching her walk toward the altar, Adam could easily believe that a god had fallen in love with her.</p><p>       But there was no place for love in Adam's heart. His heart was not that of a soppy mortal or lovestruck god, but rather a block cold, cold stone which cared little for anything but himself. And thus all he saw was a prettily wrapped steak making its way towards him. </p><p>       Eva then took her place beside Adam and the service began. The long, tedious service. A couple more of Eva's precious nieces-which she of course, never spoke to on a daily basis-read passages from the Old and New Testaments, and then a psalm repeated by the guests. Then the priest read something from Mark. Fortunately, as it was a Thursday, there was no homily. The priest then blessed the couple, and after that, out came the thirteen wedding coins, presented to him by Eva's sister Maria. Adam nodded as he accepted the box and...</p><p>      For some reason, the box stung his hands. Adam hissed as he handed them to the priest, who recited a blessing and then handed them back to Adam. </p><p>     "I...I give you these coins as a symbol of my trust in you," Adam said hastily as he handed the box to Eva. </p><p>     "And I promise to care for our wealth as best I can," Eva replied with a smile as she accepted the box. She then set the box aside and turned back to Adam and the priest.</p><p>     "Now, Eva Vasquez and Adam Scott," the priest announced, "Have you come here to enter into Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?" </p><p>      "I have," Eva and Adam said in unison.</p><p>      "Are you prepared, as you follow the path of Marriage," the priest continued, "To love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?" </p><p>      "I am," Eva and Adam agreed, again in unison.</p><p>      "Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?" </p><p>      Adam resisted the urge to chuckle as he agreed to this promise alongside Eva. What children? </p><p>     "Since it is your intention to enter the covenant of Holy Matrimony," the priest declared, "Join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church."</p><p>     Adam smiled as he joined hands with Eva and declared,</p><p>    "I, Adam Scott, take you, Eva Vasquez, to be my wife. I promise to be faithful to you, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love you and to honor you all the days of my life." </p><p>     Eva beamed as she in turn said,</p><p>    "I, Eva Vasquez, take you, Adam Scott, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."</p><p>     Adam blinked at the last part. <em>Death do us part?</em> Those were <em>not</em> the vows they'd rehearsed. </p><p>     But no matter, because now the priest was blessing the rings, and soon Adam was putting one of the rings on Eva. Eva, in turn, slid another ring onto Adam's finger. And then Alexander was walking up to the aisle with the wedding lasso on a cushion. He then placed the first loop of the lasso around Eva's shoulders. Alexander then placed the other loop of the wedding lasso around Adam's shoulders...</p><p>       And suddenly there was a horrible burning sensation all around Adam; an excruciating pain which left Adam able to do nothing but scream in agony as he crushed his arms to his side. </p><p>       It was then that Adam heard Leo say from the pews: </p><p>       "What's wrong, <em>Tio Adam</em>? Is the silver hurting you?" </p><p>        Adam turned to Leo in utter shock, his jaw dropping when he saw Leo's smug smirk. </p><p>        "What-I-" </p><p>        Adam glanced down at the lasso around his shoulders-the <em>silver</em> lasso. </p><p>        "Yep," Leo confirmed for him. "That is indeed a silver lasso around your shoulders- a <em>pure silver</em> lasso." </p><p>         "You bastard!" Adam cried, accidentally letting out a feral snarl as he did. "How dare-" </p><p>         "Careful," Adam heard Alexander say next to him. "Your fangs are showing." </p><p>         Adam whipped around towards Alexander, who added, </p><p>         "Now, put them away. We don't want to let the whole church know you're a werewolf, do we?" </p><p>         Adam's jaw dropped.</p><p>         "How did you-"</p><p>         "<em>Leo</em> told him," Eva spat. "And then <em>he</em> told <em>me</em>." </p><p>        Adam turned to Leo, who shrugged and said,</p><p>        "You only told <em>me</em> to do nothing. You didn't say Alexander and Tia Eva couldn't, say, put a silver lasso around your neck, or give you a box washed with a silver solution." </p><p>        "Both of which <em>conveniently</em> provided by you," Adam hissed, the pain around his shoulders growing. </p><p>        Leo nodded.</p><p>        "But I didn't use them, did I?" he pointed out. "Your would-be victims did."</p><p>        Just then, the church doors flew open, and in stepped none other than Calypso, who was supposed to be locked-up in the hideout.</p><p>       "That, and I escaped," Adam's former prisoner pointed out. "So technically your deal is moot."</p><p>       "H-how?" Adam stammered, looking towards his pack brothers.</p><p>       "Turns out the moment when all your captors are gone is the perfect time to escape," Calyspo said with a shrug. "Who'd have thought?" </p><p>       Just then, the pain became so inescapable that Adam had no choice but to transform into his wolf form. The assembled crowd gasped as Adam burst  through the top half of his tux and broke the lasso, roaring in anger as he did. </p><p>        Alexander and Eva's response, however, was to pull guns out of their and the front of their dress respectively.</p><p>        "You loaded them with the right bullets, right?" Leo asked as he pulled a similar gun out of his own tux. </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Alexander, Leo, and Eva Vasquez defeat the werewolves.  Upon doing so, however, they run into a different problem. <br/>      Alexander is stunned by Eva's use of the Mist.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>        Tia Eva's response to that question was to shoot her would-be-husband three times in the chest, causing him to fall dead on the ground.</p><p>        "Does that answer your question?" she asked, shooting Leo an exasperated look. </p><p>        Indeed, it did. But hardly had she asked when Leo heard the sound of a gun clattering to the floor. He turned his gaze towards the direction of the sound, and realized that Alexander had dropped his gun and was now covering his ears with a pained expression on his face. <br/>       And it was then that Leo quickly realized that he had failed to account for one very simple thing: namely, that guns were loud. An unpleasant sort of loud. And that things were unpleasantly loud were <em>anathema</em> to autistic people.</p><hr/>
<hr/><p>         Three bursts of horrible, sharp sound, all exploding the air in swift succession. The hideous things burrowed into Alexander's eardrums, as if in an attempt to completely destroy them. But not just his eardrums, oh no; they flooded his mind, too, emptying it of everything except the pain, the pure, horrible pain.<br/>          It was all Alexander could to put his hands to his ears; a desperate, failed attempting at protecting his mind, his sanity, from the auditory onslaught that sought to destroy them.</p><p>          "Cousin!" Alexander heard Leo exclaim. "I'm so sorry-I forgot- I never meant-"</p><p>          "Sweetie!" his mother exclaimed in turn. "I'm sorry-I didn't mean to hurt you like that-"</p><p>           But before Alexander could reply to those apologies, he immediately the sound of tearing fabric and wolf snarls. Looking up, he saw that all three of the groomsmen had transformed into their wolf forms, and were now eyeing the assembled guests with a hungry look in their eyes. And it was then that Alexander realized that in his bid for ear protection, he had stupidly dropped the gun. </p><p>           Just as he reached to pick it up, however, Leo snatched it from Alexander's grasp.</p><p>          "It's okay, cuz," Leo said as he stuffed the gun in the waistband of his pants, "I understand. We'll just fight this the old-fashioned way. With our powers." </p><p>          "Our...powers?" Alexander stammered out, utterly confused. How exactly were wind powers supposed to fight three hulking werewolves? And what about his mother? </p><p>          Just then, one of the werewolves turned towards one of the pews in front, in which Uncle Enrique, Aunt Isobel, Aunt Rosa, and Cousin Raphael were sitting, and leapt forward to kill them.</p><p>          "Stay away from my family!" Alexander cried, instinctively throwing out his hands as if to stop the big wolf. Much to his shock, arcs of electricity shot out of his hands and hit the werewolf. The werewolf froze, the electricity stunning him and causing him to fall to the floor, unable to move. </p><p>          "How...how did I do that?" Alexander gasped, staring at his hands in shock.</p><p>        He did not have time to wonder for very long, because then suddenly two silver bullets came zipping through the air, flying towards the paralyzed werewolf and then at last sinking into its chest, effectively killing the creature dead.</p><p>         Alexander whipped towards the source of the bullets and found that it was his mother, who was holding her gun in one hand, and making strange gestures with the other.</p><p>        "How...how?!" he gasped. </p><p>        Before his mother could answer that question, another werewolf began lunging at them. Or, more specifically, at Alexander. Before it could, however, a ball of fire shot from Leo's hands and into the werewolf's chest. The werewolf stumbled backwards, howling in pain as he did so. <br/><br/>         Alexander's mother then proceeded to aim the gun at the stunned werewolf, doing those finger gestures as she did so. Unfortunately, however, nothing came out of the gun she was holding. </p><p>         The werewolf grinned. </p><p>         "Out of bullets, I see," it snarled. "Well then...it looks like we'll just have to eat you." </p><p>         "Yes," agreed the werewolf behind him. "Looks like it!" </p><p>         "Don't. You. <em>DARE!!</em>" Alexander and Leo screamed in unison. Leo then thrust another fireball at the burned werewolf, while Alexander thrust his hands out and hoped to summon whatever lightning power had paralyzed the first werewolf. To Alexander's surprise, it worked a second time. Bolts of electricity shot once again from his fingers, this time hitting both werewolves and stunning them. <br/>         Alexander's mother tossed her empty gun onto the floor and did another one of those odd gestures. Alexander's discarded gun then flew into his mother's hand, and with a few more odd gestures, bullets came pouring from it into the burned werewolf's chest, killing him dead. She did the same thing for the other werewolf, and immediately there was nothing but a pile of dead, giant bipedal wolves near the altar. <br/>         They had won. </p><p>        "We won!" Alexander cried, ecstatic and relieved. "We defeated the werewolves!" </p><p>        His mother looked a little less convinced, however. </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>         Alexander was right; they had successfully killed the werewolves. But they had done so in front of an enormous crowd of mortals. Who had not expected to watch Eva kill the groom in self-defense, to say the least. </p><p>         How on earth was Eva going to fix this? Obviously, she'd have to use the Mist. But what the hell kind of replacement was she going to use for <em>half the wedding party</em> turning into <em>werewolves</em>? </p><p>         Not to mention, there were certain entities who had seen Alexander display his powers that the Mist wouldn't work on. Like, say, Alexander's <em>father</em>. He had to have noticed by now that the barrier was gone. And if he had, it was highly likely he'd also seen Alexander discover his powers. Now he could be trusted to keep it secret, but if any <em>other</em> god had seen it...?</p><p>        Alexander would be dead. </p><p>        "What...what just happened?" Rosa demanded, blinking at everything in surprise. </p><p>        "Uh..." Eva began, snapping her fingers to summon the Mist, "Adam Scott jilted me at the altar. He and his brothers left just as the lazo was being placed on us." </p><p>        The Mist swirled around Rosa, as well as the rest of the wedding guests, their eyes going blank as it did so. Eva grimaced as it did; she had used the Mist before, but not on her family, and certainly not on a crowd of people before.</p><p>         But then the Mist settled, and Rosa's expression changed to one of concern and sympathy. </p><p>        "Oh, you poor thing!" Rosa said. "I can't believe Adam would have the nerve to leave you at the altar!"</p><p>        "Ah well," Eva replied with a nervous smile. "There are plenty of fish in the sea!" </p><hr/>
<hr/><p>        "How on earth did Mom make everyone believe that Adam left?" Alexander demanded, staring in shock as the extended Valdez family were packing their bags and leaving. "They saw the werewolves attack us!" </p><p>         Leo shrugged. </p>
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